Part 68 (1/2)
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal 476:24 man: ”As for man, his days are as gra.s.s: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind pa.s.seth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall 476:27 know it no more.”
The kingdom within
When speaking of G.o.d's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, ”The kingdom of G.o.d is within you;”
476:30 that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in G.o.d's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the per- 477:1 fect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour 477:3 saw G.o.d's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of G.o.d is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
477:6 Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.
Material body never G.o.d's idea
477:9 Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but Christian Science reveals man as the idea of 477:12 G.o.d, and declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions. Divine Science shows it to be impossible that a material body, though 477:15 interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed mind, should be man, - the genuine and perfect man, the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
477:18 Were it otherwise, man would be annihilated.
Reflection of Spirit
_Question_. - What are body and Soul?
_Answer_. - Ident.i.ty is the reflection of Spirit, the re- 477:21 flection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelli- gence of man, which is individualized, but not 477:24 in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to Spirit.
Man inseparable from Spirit
Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught 477:27 some glimpses of the underlying reality, when they called a certain beautiful lake ”the smile of the Great Spirit.” Separated from man, 477:30 who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonent.i.ty; man, divorced from Spirit, would lose his ent.i.ty. But there is, 478:1 there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with G.o.d.
A vacant domicile
478:3 What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you within mortality? Even according to the teachings of natural science, man has never beheld Spirit 478:6 or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of 478:9 the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer- tain cla.s.s of persons, when no such persons were ever seen to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they 478:12 even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul in the body?
Harmonious functions
_Question_. - Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and 478:15 is there intelligence in matter?
_Answer_. - No, not if G.o.d is true and mortal man a liar. The a.s.sertion that there can be pain or pleasure 478:18 in matter is erroneous. That body is most harmonious in which the discharge of the nat- ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence 478:21 dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the functions of Mind. Error says, ”I am man;” but this 478:24 belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu- man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which 478:27 reflects G.o.d. St. Paul said, ”But when it pleased G.o.d, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, ... I conferred not with flesh and blood.”
Immortal birthright
478:30 _Mortal man_ is really a self-contradictory phrase, for man is not mortal, ”neither indeed can be;” man is im- 479:1 mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit- 479:3 ual origin. With what truth, then, could the Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother, ”I have gotten a man from the Lord”? On the con- 479:6 trary, if aught comes from G.o.d, it cannot be mortal and material; it must be immortal and spiritual.
Matter's supposed selfhood
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
479:9 An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see, feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self- 479:12 cognizant, - cannot feel itself, see itself, nor understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind, which const.i.tutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter 479:15 can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical senses?
Chaos and darkness
479:18 ”In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
479:21 (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos 479:24 are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding, and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of nothingness.
Spiritual reflection
479:27 We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects no light. So evil should be denied ident.i.ty or power, because it has none of the divine hues. Paul 479:30 says: ”For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under- stood by the things that are made.” (Romans i. 20.) 480:1 When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci- ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where 480:3 the spirit of G.o.d is, and there is no place where G.o.d is not, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some- thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then 480:6 there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit